Looking Back: A Wilson Student Experience

by Megan Philip, Parent of Alum & Trustee

Choosing Wilson for our daughter is probably the best parenting decision my husband and I have ever made. You might think that would make writing a short reflection on the Wilson student experience an easy task, but I realized it’s hard to know where to start!  When I told my daughter, who is now a high school freshman, about the topic, she asked me to clarify.  I gave her some possibilities, hoping she might pick one for me: How each student at Wilson is known and treated as a unique individual; the academic preparation she received for secondary school; the interesting learning experiences and trips she took part in; having teachers that she will remember for a lifetime.  Her response to which one I should choose was, “Gosh, Mom -- all of them!”  So, from our family to yours, here is a glimpse of The Wilson School student experience.

To be a student at Wilson is to have a home away from home, a place where every single teacher (and the school secretary and the lunch lady and the mindfulness instructor…) knows your name.  It is the opportunity to be in an environment where you are safe: safe enough to take the risks necessary to grow as a person and as a learner, and to know that you will be celebrated when you succeed and encouraged when you fall short. To be a student at Wilson is to be exposed to learning opportunities that most of us only dream about: curriculum designed by passionate, committed faculty who love what they do and where they do it.  To be a student at Wilson is to thrive academically in the subject that is hardest for you (and therefore, that you may be the least interested in), because you had teachers year after you who believed in you, who lovingly drew out the very best part of you that you didn’t even know was there, who made you willing and able to achieve far more than you thought possible.  To be a student at Wilson is to have a whole community to support your parents as they guide you in growing up: learning how to manage your time and take responsibility for yourself, learning how to resolve conflicts and to build healthy relationships with the people around you.  To be a student at Wilson is to have people interested and invested in you long after you have graduated, delighted when you return to visit.

To be a student at Wilson is to benefit from more than 100 years of excellence in elementary education and to become someone who pursues excellence wherever life takes her.